Three years of leadership, culture, and care at Wakai Waian Healing
This week, Wakai Waian Healing proudly honours Dr Ivy Trevallion, known across Zenadh Kes as Aunty Ivy, as she marks three years with our organisation as a Senior Social Worker based at our Thursday Island office.
Aunty Ivy is a highly regarded social worker and community leader who has dedicated more than three decades of her life to advocating for Indigenous rights, social justice, and the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. At Wakai Waian Healing, she serves as a Social Worker and Social and Emotional Wellbeing Counsellor, leading programs that support children, young people, and families across Thursday Island and the wider Torres Strait.
At Wakai Waian Healing, workforce retention is not accidental. It is built through valuing experience, cultural authority, and people who carry deep responsibility to community. Aunty Ivy embodies this commitment in every sense.
A proud Torres Strait Islander woman from Dauan and Saibai Islands, with longstanding clan connections across Zenadh Kes, Aunty Ivy’s journey in social work began in the late 1970s. She enrolled at the pioneering Aboriginal Task Force at the South Australian Institute of Technology in 1977, completing qualifications in community development and social work. In 1982, she went on to study a Bachelor of Social Work at The University of Queensland, graduating in 1986 as one of the University’s first Torres Strait Islander graduates.
Her career spans Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medical Services, universities, government departments, hospitals, social and emotional wellbeing services, and national advisory and governance roles. Across each setting, her work has been guided by an unwavering commitment to justice, cultural continuity, and the protection of Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal community customs.
That commitment reached a national milestone through her instrumental role in the passage of the Meriba Omasker Kaziw Kazipa Act 2020, the first legislation in Australian history to legally recognise a traditional Torres Strait Islander child rearing practice. She continues this work today as Chair of the Kupai Omasker Working Party, ensuring these practices are protected for future generations.
Within Wakai Waian Healing, Aunty Ivy’s influence extends far beyond her formal role. She plays a central part in cultural governance, ensuring clinical and therapeutic practice remains grounded in Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being, and doing. She also provides supervision and mentorship to junior social workers and allied health staff, strengthening our internal pipeline and supporting staff to grow, stay, and lead within the organisation.
CEO Ed Mosby describes her impact as fundamental to how Wakai Waian Healing works.
“Aunty Ivy is cultural authority in action. Her presence grounds our work in Torres Strait Islander law, values, and responsibility. She brings decades of lived experience and professional wisdom, and she holds us to account in the best possible way, always reminding us who we serve and why.”
Her guidance shapes practice across disciplines. For Occupational Therapist Jena Stephen, working alongside Aunty Ivy has deepened her understanding of culturally safe care.
“Aunty Ivy has an incredible ability to translate culture into practice in ways that strengthen our clinical work rather than separate it from community. She reminds us that culture is not an add on. It is the foundation. Working alongside her has deepened my understanding of what culturally safe care really looks like in the Torres Strait.”
For emerging practitioners, Aunty Ivy’s mentorship is transformative. Social Worker Amanda Majid, whom Aunty Ivy mentors and supervises, reflects on the confidence that support provides.
“Aunty Ivy doesn’t just supervise your work. She teaches you how to carry yourself, how to listen properly, and how to hold people’s stories with respect. Knowing I can lean on her wisdom gives me confidence in my practice. She creates a safe space to learn and grow, and that is why people stay at Wakai Waian Healing.”
Alongside her work with Wakai Waian Healing, Aunty Ivy continues to serve in significant leadership roles. She is a Board Member of the Healing Foundation, amplifying the voices and lived experience of Stolen Generations survivors and their families. She was appointed President of the Torres Strait Islander Media Association in 2020 and was honoured as a Queensland Great in 2021 for her lifetime of service.
Her contribution has also been formally recognised by The University of Queensland, which conferred on her the degree of Doctor of Social Work honoris causa, acknowledging her extraordinary contribution to social work, community leadership, and cultural advocacy.
Aunty Ivy often speaks about children as sacred gifts, belonging not only to parents but to the wider community. This belief sits at the heart of her practice and aligns deeply with Wakai Waian Healing’s commitment to family, connection, and prevention focused mental health care.
As an organisation, we are committed to building a workforce that stays, grows, and leads across generations. Aunty Ivy’s three years with Wakai Waian Healing reflect what is possible when experience is respected, culture is centred, and people are supported to bring their whole selves to their work.
We are honoured to walk alongside Aunty Ivy, to learn from her, and to have her leadership shaping both our present and our future.
Congratulations Aunty Ivy, and thank you for everything you continue to give to Wakai Waian Healing and to our people.